Who is detained Australian-Chinese artist Guo Jian?

Chinese-Australian artist Guo Jian has reportedly been detained by Chinese police amid a crackdown on attempts to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The artist notified friends on Sunday that he was being taken from his home in Songzhuang, an art colony on the eastern fringe of Beijing, before they lost contact with him. Australia's embassy in Beijing is requesting more information about his reported detention.

Guo had recently finished a piece of art work showing Tiananmen Square covered in meat.

He was born in 1962 in Guizhou province, in south-western China, into a minority Buyei family.

As a young, aspiring artist, Guo enlisted with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at 17, hoping to study at one of the army's arts colleges.

Instead, he was enlisted as a propaganda poster painter.

Guo says his time in the military was transformative and left him cynical of the army and Communist Party.

He left the army in 1982 and returned to his home town, where he worked as a propaganda officer at a transport company and as a long-haul driver.